Jimin wasn't as used to the real world as Jungkook was. He didn't know about money and the problems a lot of people had with money, which is why he didn't understand why Jungkook was complaining, "They told my parents! Taehyung told Seokjin that I couldn't afford oil and then Seokjin called my mom and now my parents are going to pay for my oil, too, and they'll send me money for bills-"

"But that's good, isn't it, Kookie? Your parents are so sweet! You should be really happy." Jimin said. He ran his fingers through Jungkook's hair. The two of them had gotten into a habit lately- one that started with Jungkook and was happily supported by Jimin. When Jungkook was stressed, especially after having just come home, he would tug Jimin to the couch, would lay stomach-down on the robot and cuddle up against him, spill all of his problems as if Jimin were a temporary therapist- which, he really could be, he was so good with words.

"I am happy. Of course I'm happy. I'm really relieved, actually, but I just- I want to be independent, and having to rely on my parents for so much money isn't helping me be as independent as I want to be." Jungkook brought his arms to cross over one another on Jimin's chest, rest his chin on them. He pouted, looked at his robot with the pout reaching his eyes. "I feel guilty."

"You shouldn't. These are your parents- of course they're going to help you if you're in a predicament." Jimin said. He sat up slightly, tapped on the underside of Jungkook's chin and brought him in to kiss the tip of his nose. He hadn't quite gotten Jungkook to the point that Jungkook would kiss him, would be his boyfriend, but he'd only been with Jungkook for a couple months. He knew not to expect much; and he promised Seokjin he wouldn't.

"I know. I just- I'm up all of their money. What- what am I supposed to do to give back? They've been taking care of me for over twenty years- it's about time they leave me to be on my own." Jungkook said. He let his gaze fall from Jimin's, down to his shoulder, where Jungkook's hand was resting. "I think if I had a kid that needed me as much as I need my parents I'd be sick of them by now."

"Parents never get sick of their kid, silly Jungkook. Kids are cute! And they're so lovely." Jimin said. He tapped his fingers along Jungkook's sides, another habit of his. This habit came out of Seokjin telling him that he couldn't stay still for long. It had something to with his body locking up, causing his heart to fail or his body to become unresponsive. Jimin didn't remember the details; but he did remember Seokjin telling him that was why he made Jimin in a way that he wouldn't need to sleep or charge.

"How do you know?" Jungkook muttered, looked at Jimin again, pouting still. He thought he resembled a little kid himself as he was saying, "Kids are needy and they whine all the time. Just like I'm whining right now- why aren't you sick of me either?"

Jungkook dropped his head with a long, loud sigh, his forehead against his arms, voice muffled against Jimin's chest. "Humans are just stupid and annoying in general. I'm glad Jin-hyung made me a robot- I could never fall in love with a person. I hate them all."

"You don't hate your Jin-hyung. Or Taehyung, and you don't hate your teachers, right? Or that boy that you think your friend should date. Hoseok?" Jimin asked. Jungkook looked up at him, shook his head. Jimin smiled, "See? You could fall in love with a person if you want to."

"I don't want to fall in love with a person. I don't want to fall in love at all- love is so overrated, and I'm too busy worrying about me to worry about loving someone else." Jungkook said. His shoulders dropped with his next sigh. "Isn't that narcissistic?"

"Uh. I wouldn't say. Just because you don't want to fall in love doesn't mean you're a narcissist." Jimin said. "I think you could call that overly independent, but love isn't required for humans to live. It is nice to be loved, however, and that's why I'm here. A person that doesn't at least receive love is bound to be lonely. Jin and I don't want that to happen."

"Thanks, Jimin. I'll have to tell Jin-hyung thanks when I see him next time." Jungkook said. He shrugged his shoulders a few times to stretch them out without moving. "I think he's going to come visit today. But- that's just a maybe. He's been working a lot recently."

"He's working on a project- remember? It's pretty important, for a new product- something for cell phones, I think. I forgot." Jimin said. Jungkook hummed. He pushed himself up, hands on Jimin's chest as he leaned back, stretching out his body briefly. Jimin's hands fell from Jungkook's back, landed softly on the couch.

"Thanks for talking with me, Jimin. I'm sorry- I know I get annoying sometimes." Jungkook said, moved to sit on his knees, legs spread around Jimin's hips. He noticed Jimin eyeing his legs, and he wondered if perhaps Jimin could get aroused, wondered if he and Jimin could have . It probably wasn't something he should be thinking about, but he couldn't help it- especially not with the temporary look in Jimin's eyes.

"You're not annoying. I like listening to you, even if it's about negative things." Jimin said. He sat up, arms coming to wrap around Jungkook's shoulders. "I like to take that negativity away. It's so nice to see your reaction to the positive things I tell you."

"It's nice to have positive things to listen to." Jungkook said. He leaned into Jimin, pressed his forehead onto the robots, closed his eyes and let himself rest there, body relaxed. "I'm a pessimist. Living with an optimist is such a nice change."

"You're not a pessimist. You just view some things negatively- and that's okay. I view some things negatively." Jimin said, his voice going soft, almost sad as his hands traveled down Jungkook's body- chest, stomach, thighs, and then up to where his hands were resting on Jimin's shoulders. "I sometimes think you'll never fall in love with me, but it's pretty easy to push that thought away when I tell myself that you don't need to fall in love with me- I'll be okay even if you don't."

Jungkook didn't know what to say for one moment, two moments, three. And then he whispered, "Well, it's true that I never want to fall in love. But, sometimes, people just can't help it, and our hearts tell us that falling in love is no longer a choice. So... if that happens to me, Jimin, I'm sure it will happen because my heart wants me to be in love with you."

/

"I saved Jungkook's life. Be proud of me." Taehyung said the moment Hoseok opened the door to his dorm. Hoseok chuckled, moved aside to let Taehyung in, watched him drop his bag on the couch before he spoke, "Did you find a way to make sure he wouldn't freeze to death this winter?"

"Well. I told Seokjin, because I knew hyung would find a solution. Seokjin called Jungkook's mom and dad, and they're going to pay for oil for him. So, we won't lose little Jungkook to winter chills, and we might all be able to hang out for Christmas." Taehyung said. He plopped down on the couch, kicked his feet back and forth. "Are you going home for Christmas?"

"It's a little too far away. I don't think I can afford a plane ticket." Hoseok pursed his lips. "I kind of wish I hadn't decided to go to college so far from home. It would be so much more convenient to be within driving distance. Gas to drive there and back would cost so much less than a plane ticket."

"I know. I don't think I can go home for Christmas either." Taehyung said. He leaned back against the couch, stretched out, nearly punched Hoseok in the face when the boy sat down and decided to attack him with tickles, made his body react on impulse. Hoseok chuckled, and Taehyung found it in his midst of off mood to chuckle, too.

"Well, we can always at least call home to talk to our families. Maybe we should spend Christmas together, so it'll be a little less depressing.... Maybe we can invite Jungkook and Jimin, too- unless they'd rather stay alone." Hoseok said. He leaned back against the couch, head tilted back, staring up at the ceiling as he thought. "Do you think Jungkook will end up with Jimin, Tae?"

"Oh, for sure. They're so compatible- I can't believe how well Seokjin made Jimin. He's perfect for Jungkook- happy and optimistic. Jungkook needs someone like that in his life." Taehyung smirked, sat up and moved to sit on Hoseok's lap- a little harder than necessary, but it got his attention. "Speaking of needing certain people in certain lives. Did you ask your crush out yet?"

"She's just a crush, Taehyung. I don't really want to ask her out." Hoseok said. He glanced as Taehyung's hand on his shoulder. "I heard she plays hard to get, and I'm not really into people like that. Not that I want someone easy. I just- I want someone who won't play around with me, you know? If you like me, you like me. If you don't, you don't. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Taehyung said, almost disappointed. He and Hoseok were both single, both kind of wanting to be with people, both knowing that they should be focusing on their courses instead.

Taehyung sighed. "It's disappointing that we don't hang out more often. We could come up with really good pick-up lines, and we could plan more... we live too far away from each other."

"We're on the same floor. You live like three doors down. I could walk to your dorm with a half hour of sleep and get there before I pass out." Hoseok chuckled at the way Taehyung stuck his tongue out- "Far enough."

"Well... maybe we could move in together." Hoseok said, rubbing his hands together, nervous. "I mean. We could switch rooms with Jijoon and Kyungri. Or... we could go get an apartment together. Those aren't too expensive- especially between two people."

"Yeah." Taehyung echoed softly. He rubbed the back of his neck through the silence, hand falling back on Hoseok's shoulder when it came down again. "That's not a bad idea. I'd- I'd really like to live with you, hyung."

Hoseok beamed, and Taehyung beamed right back. He moved a little bit closer to Hoseok, arms coming to wrap right around Hoseok's neck. Their faces were pretty close at this point, but they were always close. "What about Jijoon and Kyungri, though? What should we tell them?"

"We should... invite them to another gather-up movie night. And we'll discuss it over popcorn and a lot of soda. Everyone is happy when they had popcorn and soda." Hoseok said. Taehyung chuckled, moved back out of Hoseok close personal space.

"That's a good plan, hyung." Taehyung said. He glanced back at the television, eyed the little drawer that Hoseok kept his movies in. "Did you get any new films? I've been wanting to watch a new one."

"I've gotten a couple. Do you want to look through them?" Hoseok asked, and Taehyung nodded. Hoseok practically picked him up as they were moving off of the couch, and he tugged Taehyung over to the little entertainment stand, opened the drawer to pick out movies, to talk about them. Taehyung was a little distracted by the thought of living with Hoseok- of living alone with him all the time, of walking to the college with him. He had a momentary vision of them walking together with their fingers tangled up, but that was a fantasy Taehyung had had for a long time, one that had yet to come true.

"Tae! Wake up." Hoseok said, and Taehyung snapped back into reality, the sight of the fingers he wanted to hold snapping in front of his face. He heard Hoseok pretty laughter, all bleeding into his next words. "Living with you is going to be difficult, I can already tell. I'll call to tell you breakfast is ready and by the time you reply, I'll already think you'd died in your bedroom."

"Sorry." Taehyung said, sat up a little straighter. "I was just thinking. It'll be really fun to live with you, hyung. We'll probably destroy a lot of things, and we might get a little bit sick of each other sometimes, but we'll be really happy most of the time."

"Of course we'll be happy. We're always happy. That's why Jungkook finds us annoying, remember?" Hoseok asked, chuckled.

"Annoyingly cute." Taehyung corrected, tapping on Hoseok's cheek- once, twice. "He told us he was glad we weren't dating because we'd be cuter together than we are now."

"I'm glad he's not with Jimin yet. They're way too ing cute together- it's borderline sickening." Hoseok chuckled; Taehyung did the same.

"I think you'll be really, really cute when you get a girlfriend, hyung. I can't wait to see who it'll be." Taehyung said, and he hoped his voice didn't sound as annoyingly sad to Hoseok as it did to himself.

"I could end up with a boy, too, Taehyung. Did you forget that I was panual, silly thing?" Hoseok asked, tapped Taehyung's nose. "You should know- you're the same."

"Oh. Yeah- sorry. I just always see you with a girl, hyung. I'm not sure why." Taehyung shrugged. "Don't you see me with someone specific?"

Taehyung had a brief fantasy of Hoseok saying "I see you with me" in response, but Hoseok didn't say anything, simply shrugged to reply.

"I think I might end up with a boy. Girls seem to avoid me a lot. It's almost sad." Taehyung said, and Hoseok just nodded, moved to look at his movies again. Taehyung frowned; Hoseok was being pretty damn quiet. Did Taehyung say something wrong? . He did that way too much; the amount of times Jungkook had flat-out avoided him for days at a time was almost too much to count.

"But I think you'll look good with whoever you end up with." Taehyung said, trying to bring the mood back to normal. Hoseok only nodded, again, in response.